3.3
Consciousness burst to life in Hannah's mind. Bolting up her stiffened muscles gave a cry of protest. Collapsing back down she took in her surroundings, the cold sterile air mixed with the clinical white light told her exactly where she was. The Protectorate medical facility.
'Safe,' she told herself, 'I'm safe.'
She took a deep breath, calming herself. She thought back to her last memories, the feeling of floating helpless in the air. The flash of light, filling the air with the smell of ozone. The pain lacing through her body, then the darkness. Samedi, what had happened with Samedi? If Hannah was here that meant the theory about her not killing heroes held true, or just that she hadn't thought Hannah worth killing. She needed answers.
Slowly she pulled herself into a seated position, ignoring the protest from her body. Her weapon flared to life, changing rapidly until it settled into the shape of a revolver. She tucked into her belt, and prepared to stand when the door to her room opened.
"Oh," The newcomer mumbled. Panacea of New Wave stood there in full uniform. "You're already awake. Good, that's a good sign."
"A good sign?" Hannah asked.
"Yeah, you took a nasty shock. They were worried that you may have suffered some brain damage. If you had, well..." The girl trailed off. Hannah knew what she was going to say. If she had then there was nothing that Panacea could have done.
"Do you still want me to look at you?" The girl asked, "see if there is anything that might be wrong that I can help with?"
She sounded worn out, or worn down. Hannah didn't know which would be worse. "I should be fine. Nothing some rest won't fix."
Panacea nodded, "I should check anyway. If you're more hurt than you think it could become an issue later."
Hannah responded with a shrug holding out her arm. The girl took hold of it. They stood in silence for a few moments before Panacea let closed her eyes to focus. Suddenly the pain in Hannah's body faded into nothing. Hannah smiled, the scarf would obscure it, but her parents always told her the value of being polite. "Thank you."
"It's nothing," she murmured. "Just doing my job."
"You were here for Velocity, correct?" Hannah needed to remember to apologize the next time she saw him.
"Yeah, him, and Dauntless."
"Dauntless too? What happened?" Hannah asked concern lacing her voice.
"His eardrums were ruptured. Some kind of sonic blast."
Hannah could feel her eyes widen.
"He's fine now, really. The eardrums are all bone, and bones are some of the easiest things for me to heal." Panacea reassured her. "He should be awake if you want to talk to him."
"I'll do that, but later. First I need to speak with the rest of my team. Do you know where they are?"
Panacea shrugged helplessly. "Sorry, but other than Battery I haven't seen anyone since I got here, and that was almost an hour ago."
That was about what Hannah expected. Panacea may be a valued asset, but her family wasn't part of the system. That kept her on the outside for a lot of things. Hannah could understand that feeling, especially with both of them being orphans. At least they both found families to care for them. Still that feeling of being on the outside never truly left.
She pushed that thought away for now, it wouldn't do to dwell on it. Refocusing on Panacea she asked where Battery last was. She'll need to start somewhere.
"Umm, I passed her when I got off the elevator, she said something about heading to the gym? I'm sorry I can't be more help."
"It's fine. I'll head there, unless you need a ride home?" A part of Hannah hoped she'd say no. The woman really needed to see her team. Thankfully the girl shook her head.
"No it's fine. Vic-Glory Girl is coming to give me a lift. It's Saturday so at least I won't miss class this morning."
Hannah nodded and headed to the door with Panacea. They were halfway to the elevator before she realized the full extent of what she said, "Morning?"
"Yeah, it's six or so. Why?"
"It was a little after three when we were attacked." She had been out for almost three hours? What had happened since? She really needed answers. The reached the elevators, and they waited several minutes without the elevator arriving before Panacea spoke again.
"I'll just take the stairs. It was nice seeing you." The words came listlessly. In theory the elevators would be quicker to get to the roof, unless Amy was planing to use the old helicopter pad. Hannah guessed the girl didn't feel comfortable waiting with her, or she was just sick of waiting in general. It wasn't really an issue one way or another. As much as Hannah appreciated the girl's work she wouldn't call them close. Giving an offhand nod the girl left Hannah alone to wait.
She thought back to last night. Samedi wasn't what she was expecting. What any of them were really expecting. They knew she'd fight back, but given the Wards description she'd only do so defensively. They all thought that she would've run at the first opportunity. Not take the fight to them the way she had. If Hannah was a different kind of person she would try and find some excuse, but she had always held that honesty was paramount. The truth was they let themselves get cocky. It was lucky their egos didn't cost them their lives.
A soft ding from the elevator broke up Hannah's brooding. Stepping in she pressed the button for the 5th floor, where the gym was located. She hoped Kristine was still there. A soft rumbling in her belly suddenly reminded her that she hadn't eaten since last night. Now that she was aware of it, hunger pains formed in the back of her mind.
The ride down took several moments, the elevators ran slow outside of emergencies for security purposes. Normally Hannah found it relaxing. They were built to be gentle, most would hardly even notice the motion was happening. Today however her inpatients made the ride seem to take forever. It drew her back into her mind, to memories about last night. The way Samedi moved, the way she fought. There was no wasted motion. She was efficient, taking down who ever was in her way quickly. Most villains, and far too many heroes treated fights like it was all just a show. Flashy moves, and pointless banter. Samedi ignored the show. That made her dangerous. The girl too often broke tradition, either wittingly or unwittingly she was upsetting the balance. Hannah didn't know if that upset was going to fall in their favor or come down on the side of evil. She would pray for one, and expect the other.
The elevator stopped and there was a pause before a green light filled the inside and the doors opened. Thankfully the system recognized her clearance to be in a mask off area. Once Charlie had been stuck inside for ten minutes when the system didn't read him.
Getting out she could hear a distant thudding sound from down the hall. Following the noise she soon reached the sparing area. Inside Kristine was working over a sparing dummy. Sweat covered her entire body. She must have been pushing herself to the limit. Hannah had to admire the younger woman's dedication. Few realized that Kristine was perhaps the second or third most skilled fighter in the group. For her part Hannah rarely relied on her fists. What skills she had were learned through time, or experience. Clearing her throat gently she got Kristine's attention.
"Huh?" She said turning, her breath came in short gasps. "Hannah! You're up. That's great. I saw Panacea in the hall earlier, guess she was able to get you up and about. Are Robin and Charlie up?"
"I'm not sure," Hannah informed her. "You're the first person I've seen. I was hoping to get caught up on what happened."
"Oh, um, I'm not sure I'll be any help." She looked away from Hannah. Mumbling she added, "I certainly wasn't last night."
"What do you mean?"
"I never even saw Samedi, not up close anyway." Her tone was bitter.
"You were the farthest away, it makes sense that you would have been behind her."
"You don't get it. I could have caught up with her. If I didn't stop to help Colin up I could have caught up before she hurt Charlie. I would have made it before she beat Roy. I was close. We were right on her and she slipped away."
"You prioritized helping a teammate. Given the skill she displayed it's likely that you'd only have ended up hurt." Hannah tried to comfort the other woman.
"Or I could have captured her." Kristine pointed out.
"Or that," Hannah agreed. "Either way it is over with. We can never change things that happened. If you think you made the wrong choice then next time pick the other option."
"You make it sound so simple. Being better later won't change how I feel now."
Hannah only gave a half shrug in response. Things like that would need to be worked out on her own. Deciding on a change of subject she asked, "have you seen any of the others?"
"Roy headed home, his sister has a ball game or something. Ethan," She paused again before sighing. "He said he needed to do some thinking, so he went for a walk."
"And Colin?" Hannah knew the answer as soon as it left her mouth.
Kristine smirked a bit. "He's in his lab. In a mood too. I think he's taking this worse than I am."
Hannah could understand that. The longer Samedi went free the worse it reflected on them. Not to mention what would happen should the villains decide to take matters into their own hands. For someone that worked as hard as Colin did to help this city the idea it could sink into open war on his watch would be a real blow to him.
Her stomach chose that moment to let out a low growl. Hannah blushed slightly, but a small smile threatened to break out on her face. Kristine giggled lightly.
"Hungry?" She asked cheerfully.
"I haven't eaten since last night."
"I figured, the mess should still have something."
"Good idea, but I still want to check in with Colin. Do you want to join me?" Hannah invited. "I can see him after."
"No, thanks. I got something to eat with Ethan when we first got back."
Hannah nodded and turned to walk away.
"Oh, wait," Kristine exclaimed. "Colin went straight to the lab. I don't think he's eaten yet. You should invite him."
Hannah shot the other woman an annoyed glance back over her shoulder. Kristine did her best to look innocent but the image was spoiled by the impish grin.
"I know what you are implying."
"Oh? I wasn't implying anything. I jut think it would be a nice gesture on your part."
"I'm sure," Hannah said deadpan.
"Well you were going to head down there anyway right? No harm in asking." Kristine insisted.
Hannah merely rolled her eyes and headed out of the room. After a few feet the soft thudding of Kristine's punches returned. Reentering the elevator she tried to put the other woman's words out of her mind. Hannah liked Kristine, and would consider her a good friend. She was however sick of her thinking that Hannah had any romantic inclinations toward Colin. She admired him, thought of him as a close friend and confidant, but that shouldn't imply romantic feelings. No amount of protests on her part seemed to convince her friend of that. The idea wouldn't be so troubling if she didn't feel the need to meddle on Hannah's behalf. She was not a child anymore. If she did have feelings for Colin she would be able to act on them herself.
'Maybe she just wants to have someone to talk about relationships with?' Hannah's mind supplied. Kristine didn't have many female friends, their lives were not conducive at making outside connections. The only other women Hannah knew Kristine was friends with was the staff psychologist Dr. Walker, who was divorced, and Miss Hendrickson, who never had a relationship that couldn't be measured on a watch. Both of them were also almost a decade older than either of the heroes. It must have made things awkward for her friend.
'I just wish she didn't feel the need to force the issue.' Hannah was never one to feel the need for romance in her life, but even she could admit it had been a long time since she had a real relationship. Still she didn't need to have the pressure from Kristine about it.
Once more her thoughts were broken up by the elevator doors opening with a green light. Hannah started to head toward Colin's workspace.
"Stop!" A voice barked, stopping Hannah short. "Rewind...stop."
'He must be reviewing a video, stop being silly.' Hannah berated herself. Heading deeper into the lab she saw Colin seated at a bank of monitors, his focus intent on the screens. It took her a moment to recognize that it was a simulation rather than a real video.
"Is it going well?" She asked in way of greeting.
"Miss Militia," Colin greeted without turning. "I didn't realize you were awake. It's good that you're not badly hurt."
"Thank you," she smiled behind her scarf. "You didn't answer my question though."
"It's going slowly. I'm attempting to create a simulation of last night's battle using what data I could gather. With you, Velocity, and Dauntless unable to give your report I've had to make do with only Battery and Triumph's reports. It's been missing a lot of data. Once you have recovered it should be easy enough to fill in the blanks. Next time she won't be able surprise us."
"I hope so," Colin only grunted at that. She paused for a moment before asking, "What about Ethan?"
"What about him?" His tone was clipped.
"You mentioned Battery and Triumph, but not Assault. Did he not make it back in time?"
Colin snorted, "oh he did, but he felt it prudent to disregard his duty."
"W-what? How?" Ethan was rarely anything other than a perfect member of the Protectorate, despite his past.
"He refused to engage Samedi while he had a perfect chance." For the first time since she arrived he turned to face her. "He seemed to think he could play therapist instead. It proved ineffective."
"Did she attack him?" Battery hadn't mentioned him being hurt.
"No. She fled when we arrived as backup. Like a coward."
Hannah didn't say anything. Last night Samedi proved to be a lot of things, but a coward was not one of them. Still it wouldn't do to argue with Colin when he was like this. She felt a change in subject was in order. "Have you eaten? I was about to head to the mess hall."
"No, thank you. I have far too much work to do." Colin said turning back to his work. She tried not to feel upset at the brush off.
"Well if you are sure."
He simply grunted. Taking that as her leave Hannah headed out. She almost reached the door when Colin called out, "Miss Militia wait."
"Yes?" She asked looking back. He had turned around to face her.
"When you are finished come back here. I need to take your report."
She paused, "of course Colin. I won't be long."
Armsmaster however had returned to the screens. As she headed back to the elevator she could hear his voice giving orders to start, then stop, then rewind.